A Dysfunctional Christmas
by Davis Family Fan
Summary: Alexis wanted nothing more than a simple Christmas with her girls, grandson, and nephews. Sadly for her, things are never simple in her life. TWO-SHOT by special request. R&R.
1. Breakfast at Carly's

**Oooh, look at what the cat dragged in! Yes, I've been MIA (I work a lot), but I got this special request from my dear Batel - perhaps the only person who could pull me out of hiding for a GH fic. Although I'm in the midst of moving 600 miles from home in 4 days, I couldn't not write this for her. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!**

_**LSC readers, I have 2 chapters written. I actually would like to finish writing the story entirely before I post for not only your sanity to avoid long waits between updates, and my sanity and desire to work on a fic knowing that I've spent forever writing in spite of my work schedule and not having many people review. So...**_

**TWO-SHOT. Not edited.**

* * *

**1**  
**Breakfast at Carly's**

"I can't believe you're making me pick this breakfast up, Carly," Alexis jokingly reproached the woman who had miraculously agreed to have her hotel's kitchen open early so as to accommodate the unorthodox request that had been made. "I mean, one would think that given the amount of family we share, you'd do me this one favor and deliver."

Rolling her eyes as she pointed to a seat for the attorney to take, the blonde smiled. "And one would think that as a mother of three and a grandmother crazy enough to venture out of the house in Mrs. Claus pajamas, that you'd know how to cook by now."

"Should we discuss your cooking skills?" Alexis pointedly replied.

"Alright, truce," Carly responded with her hand extended for the brunette to shake. She laughed when her former nemesis smacked it instead. "You never could go without having the last word, could you?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Alexis gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "But seriously, Carly, I do appreciate you doing this for me. I just couldn't bring myself to go to Kelly's this morning." She sighed. "I thought that this year might have been the first in a long time that I would have somebody to share the holiday with apart from my girls. Instead, the only man I'm looking to make happy is blond, blue-eyed, and not yet potty trained."

The blonde smirked. "Jerry back in the picture?" She laughed aloud when the attorney threw a cocktail napkin at her. "Oh relax, I'm joking. If Jerry were anywhere near you, I'd kidnap you myself to knock some sense into you that he's obviously homicidal," she replied. "Besides, but for the fact that Michael's with Kiki, Morgan's decided that he wants nothing to do with his father and me, and Josslyn's with Jax in Australia, I'd have told you to suck it up - no pun intended, of course - and get your Kelly's breakfast seeing as it would benefit my family either way since we own the joint."

"You're so thoughtful," Alexis commented under her breath.

However, ignoring her comment, the woman continued. "But, I happen to love two of your three daughters-"

It was Alexis' turn to roll her eyes. "Somewhere deep down, you care about Sam," she said. "And I'm pretty sure the same is true for her as well. You can't go through all these years hating each other without developing some kind of care or concern. I mean, look at us! I can barely stand you, yet here you are getting your staff to make me breakfast to bring home to my girls."

Carly grabbed a couple of glasses and poured some egg nog into them before sliding one to her guest. "Just call it a Christmas miracle."

The two women raised their glasses to one another. It had taken years for them to establish such a relationship with one another whereby they could spend even a moment in one another's presence without the likelihood of an attempt to their lives being made. Perhaps it was maturity over the years, or simply an understanding that they had to coexist for their children's sake. Nevertheless, while neither would call the other a friend, they certainly had a mutual respect and tolerance for the other's existence.

"Normally I'd question how much of a good idea this is, having egg nog this early in the morning, but," she smiled when Carly gave her a knowing look. "Well, it is Christmas after all. I suppose I can make an exception."

"My, my, if it isn't the First Wives' Club," a snide voice was heard from behind them. "Well, I suppose it's more like the Second Wife and the Mistress Club." She looked the woman up and down. "Nice pajamas, Alexis. How... festive."

Turning to face the sound, Alexis rolled her eyes at the petite blonde with the overly blown out bob haircut. It was barely eight in the morning, and yet the woman wore a form fitting sheath dress as though she was prepared serve Christmas dinner and cocktails. "Don't you have a cradle to rob, Ava?" And remembering that the cradle of which she spoke belonged to none other than the woman on the other side of the bar, Alexis quickly turned and mouthed an apology to her.

Never at a loss for words herself, Carly walked around the bar to face the woman who had caused a rift between her and her son. "What are you doing here, Ava?" She asked prepared to have her promptly removed from her hotel. "The restaurant isn't opened yet, and you're definitely not a guest in this hotel."

"No, I'm not," she replied. "However, my brother-" she leaned to side so that she might make eye contact with Alexis, "he's a guest here. And seeing as it is Christmas, I thought it best to see if I could get reservations for this evening."

"We're booked," Carly promptly responded without a moment's thought.

"Oh?" Ava's lips formed into her notoriously devious smile. "And here I thought that you might want to put aside your dislike-"

"Hate-" she corrected.

"Whatever," the other blonde countered before continuing. "As I was saying, I was hoping that seeing as my brother is a guest in your hotel, along with the owner of a newspaper run from this hotel, and since my beau, your son, Morgan will clearly be spending the holiday with me, you might be willing to put aside your differences and actually check to see if there might be any reservation openings for Christmas dinner tonight. I'd hate to spend our first holiday together stuck in my apartment." She paused to watch the look of contempt on Carly's face transform into one mixed with disbelief, discontent, and disapproval. "It was just a thought. Although, I'm certain we could find another fine establishment-"

"You're such a bitch," Carly sneered.

"Oh, so does that mean that a reservation just opened up?" Ava sarcastically replied as she turned on her heels to exit. However, just prior to reaching the door, she called over her shoulder, "I'm hoping that it's for approximately 8pm."

Cursing under her breath, Carly returned to the bar just as her concierge brought the prepared breakfast to Alexis. Promptly grabbing the bags from the man before he could hand them to the woman, she narrowed her eyes at her. "You want to repay me for this act of kindness shown not only to you, but also to your daughters this morning?" She rhetorically asked. "You are all having Christmas dinner here tonight. If I have to suffer watching Ava fondle my son, you get to sit here and have Christmas dinner with the father of your eldest child."

Alexis shook her head. "Um, no." She replied. "We're having dinner at Wyndemere-"

"You don't even like Wyndemere, Alexis!"

She could not deny the veracity of her statement. "True, but I do love my nephew," she commented. "And he invited us over there for dinner."

Unhappy with the response, with the bags still in hand, Carly turned toward the kitchen. "Well, you had better wake your girls up and drag them to Wyndemere right now because unless you bring your self-righteous Davis asses here tonight, your only two options for breakfast at the moment are either going to Kelly's for Shawn's sausage and eggs you love so much or food poisoning because there's no way in hell you're having anything my staff prepared for you."

* * *

Rolling over to look at the clock, Sam realized that like every Christmas Day, and despite having a son who managed to wake her up at six each morning, she had managed to sleep in. It was seven-thirty. "You had better still be in that bed, Mom," she mumbled to herself as she dragged herself out of her bed and toward her bathroom.

It was a Christmas tradition in the Davis household. Since their very first Christmas together - a time most turbulent to say the very least - when Alexis was constantly sick due to her chemo treatments, Sam was tasked with ensuring that her mother was awake in order to see the girls open the gifts under the tree. Of course, at the time, the young woman barely out of her teens was barely on speaking terms with her newly discovered mother, but for the sake of her already traumatized then five year old sister Kristina, she went into the woman's room, dragged her into the bathroom to get cleaned up, returned her to her bed in a fresh pair of Head Elf Christmas pajamas, and handed her a marijuana baked cookie to quickly munch while she changed into her own elf pajamas so that her sister would think that she had spent the night. After all of that was taken care of, as Sam moved to exit the room, she then prompted her mother to pretend that she was fast asleep so that bring the girls in to her. And while Alexis had been in remission for the last fifteen years, the tradition - minus the laced cookies, of course - stuck. With the exception of the previous year where they spent the night at the Penthouse, all three girls were always together at the lakehouse, dressed in matching pajamas on Christmas morning waking up their mother and opening presents. This year would be no different.

"Krissy," Sam stuck her head into her sister's room. "Babe, it's time to get up."

Not wanting to move from the comfort of her very warm bed, the younger woman curled herself in a ball under the covers. "Come back later, Sam," she grumbled. "Go get Molly first. She's probably the only one who still believes that Mom, of all people, is still asleep at whatever hour we crawl into her bed."

"Not the point, Krissy!" Sam called. "It's a tradition. It's what we do. And it's something Mom loves for us to do."

"Yea well, she wasn't delayed at the airport until 2 in the morning," Kristina replied as she turned over in her place.

"No one told you to fly home so late. You should've anticipated that flying in December to Upstate New York would have a possibility of delays," Sam replied with a large smile at her little boy who giggled in her arms. "Go to Auntie Krissy, Danny." She cooed as she let the boy down to run to his aunt with a diaper in hand. "Make yourself useful babe; your nephew needs a new diaper."

She slipped out of the room and walked toward the next one before her sister could protest. As was her habit with her baby sister, rather than poke her head into the room so as to avoid the wrath of the morning grinch that was the middle Davis girl, Sam tiptoed inside, slid under the covers and pulled the soundly sleeping girl into her arms.

"Good morning Sleepyhead," she said with a kiss on her sister's cheek. Running her fingers through the youngest Davis Girls hair, she smiled when she felt Molly's arms wrap around her waist. "It's time to wake up."

"You do know that Mom is faking every year, right?" Molly yawned as she rested her head onto her sister's chest. "Her hair and teeth are freshly brushed, and I'm pretty sure last year she wore concealer so that she wouldn't look like she'd just woken up in the picture... unlike us."

"Well, let's just pretend for Danny's sake, okay?" Sam whispered. "He'll like waking up his Gaga."

"Fine," the teen replied rolling off the bed. "Come on, then. I think we gave Mom enough time to glam herself up already."

Shaking her head, she ran to catch up with her sister and wrapped her arm around her. "And Merry Christmas to you too, my favorite little Grinch," Sam blew a raspberry into her cheek.

"Sorry," Molly blushed before turning to give her sister a hug. "Merry Christmas, Sam. I'm glad this year is a little easier than last. I know how much you miss Jason around this time."

The older woman sighed at the reminder of her husband's glaring absence. "I'm fine," she lied, but truthfully rephrased. "Or at least I will be. With the best little sisters, most amazing mom, and cutest little boy in the whole wide world, I can deal with what I don't necessarily have by my side. Some people don't even have that much."

"You two always have to be the most sappy, don't you? It's too early in the morning for this." Kristina smirked at her sisters' appearance in the hallway. "Danny was just telling me how the sooner we get this over with, the sooner he can get that cup of coffee he's been wanting."

"Yea, I'm sure he did." Rolling her eyes, Sam sharply smacked her sister's bottom before running down the hall toward their mother's room. "Merry Christmas, babe," she yelled over her shoulder just as she crashed into the woman's empty room. "Mom?" She frowned. Walking toward the on-suite bathroom. "Mom, you in there?" She knocked on the door once before slowly opening it. "You do know that you're supposed to be in bed, don't-" she stopped speaking when she realized that the room was also empty. "What the hell?!"

"Gaga?" Danny toddled into the room and toward his grandmother's bed. "Gaga?"

Sam shrugged in annoyance at her mother's absence and break from tradition. "Yea, so it looks like she isn't here, buddy," she lifted her son into her arms. "Let's hope that Grandma didn't get run over by a reindeer."

Kristina chuckled inappropriately at her sister's comment. "Well, if you ask a few people, they'd probably say that Mom would be the one running over-" she stopped speaking when both girls glared in her direction. "Okay, so maybe that wasn't funny."

"Maybe?" Molly poked her sister in the side. "I think that's a bit of an understatement especially since it was your idiot boyfriend she ran over."

Noticing that the young woman paled at Kiefer's reminder, Sam cleared her throat in a fashion both girls had always said was reminiscent of their mother's way of getting their attention. "Alright, let's not rehash the past, please," she replied. "I think it's safe to say that Mom would not have appreciated being reminded of what happened that night... and the weeks that followed." She then looked over to her affronted sister. "And since you're the one who started it, just for that really S-T-U-P-I-D comment, Auntie Krissy, you're making breakfast while we wait for Mrs. Claus to get home."

Kristina smiled realizing that her sister wanted only to get her mind off the difficult past. "Am I making breakfast because of the S-T-U-P-I-D comment, or because I'm the only one who has any form of proficiency in the kitchen?" She retorted.

"Whatever makes you get to the kitchen faster," the eldest Davis girl smiled. "I think I just heard Danny ask for that cup of coffee again."

An hour later, the girls were laughing and joking as they set the table and put the final fixings on the breakfast Kristina had prepared when their mother struggled through the door with the bags of breakfast she had just picked up.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, babies," she smiled apologetically. Placing a kiss onto the tops of all their heads, she dropped the bags onto the floor. "I didn't want you to worry about doing that! I wanted to surprise you with breakfast."

"And how does one do that when one was supposed to be asleep in bed awaiting three and a half elves to wake her, Mrs. Claus?" Sam asked before noticing that her mother had gone out in her pajamas. "Seriously, Mom?"

Alexis waved her hand in response. "Please, I've lived in this town long enough for people to know how very little concerned I am about what they think about my morning attire," she said as she grabbed her grandson from her daughter's arms. She tickled his tummy. "What do you think, buddy? Grandma Claus is the bravest lady you know, right? She walks to the beat of her own drum, right?" She turned her attention back to her eldest. "And as to breakfast being on the table before I was supposed to have awoken? Well, the same way that presents end up under the tree in the middle of the night. Santa and the elves did it."

"Those aren't Kelly's bags," Molly observed knowing that her mother had not stepped foot in her once favorite breakfast spot since learning that Julian Jerome was Sam's father. The woman did not want to be put in the middle of the war brewing between the father of her eldest child and that of her second child. For once, the youngest Davis girl was grateful that her father lived 3,000 miles away. "Where'd you go? The MetroCourt?"

"Sadly," Alexis shook her head. When the girls gave her a puzzled look, she continued. "Well, I had the misfortune of running into your aunt, honey." She looked at Sam. "And because your former stepmother," she then looked over to Kristina, "did me a favor in allowing me to use her kitchen staff to make breakfast for her favorite -" she made air quotes, "'nieces' and 'nephew' she's now requiring that we go to the Metro Court for dinner."

"But aren't we going to Wyndemere?" Molly asked. "Why does she want us to go to the Metro Court so badly?"

"Well, because your aforementioned aunt, Sam, wormed her way into having reservations in an otherwise booked hotel restaurant by mentioning that that would be the only way Carly - who is currently suffering from empty nest syndrome - would be able to see Morgan today," she sighed. "So-"

"So, we're stuck having dinner with Ava and Julia, Mom?!" Sam screamed. "If that's the case, take the food back! Otherwise, neither I nor Danny are going. I already told you that I'm not having anything to do with him or his life," she slammed her coffee cup onto the table as she stood to leave. "I made a vow on Jason's memory that I would not raise my son in the world that caused his father his life. I almost lost Danny once, I will not take the chance in going back into the life just so I could have a relationship with a man I've spent thirty-five years of my life ignorant of. It's not worth it."

Quickly handing Danny to her middle child, Alexis grabbed Sam's arm to stop her from leaving the room. "Honey, you didn't let me finish," she said.

"Mom, you just said that Carly told you that if she gave your breakfast from her hotel kitchen, that we'd have dinner at the Metro Court," she countered. "Those are Metro Court platters, aren't they?"

"Yes, but you doubt your mother's prowess in arguments, my little doubter," Alexis replied with a kiss to her daughter's temple. "I told the sister of your brother that if she gave me breakfast to feed my beautiful girl and grandson that we would come to the Metro Court during dinner." She smiled widely. "I've already called Nikolas to let him know that we need to have dinner at five, so that we could make it to the MetroCourt at eight-"

Although slightly appeased that she would not have to have dinner with her father, Sam nevertheless groaned. "But you do realize that this doesn't eliminate the problem that we'll need to still see Julian AND his obnoxious sister, Ava, who, might I add, doesn't like me very much, for the holiday?"

"It's called a compromise, honey," Alexis sighed. "It was either that, or we would have starved this morning."

Kristina scoffed at her comment. "Excuse me, but I do believe we have breakfast right here, Mom," she waved her hand over the scrambled eggs and toast she had managed to whip up from the few items in her mother's otherwise empty refrigerator. "We wouldn't have starved."

However, Alexis promptly shook her head as she grabbed the plate of eggs from the table.

"Oh sweetheart, you haven't been away that long. You should've already known better than to cook anything in that fridge without first checking the expiration date on the items in there." She then wagged a disapproving finger at her two other daughters. "And you two should've known better seeing as you live here," she pointed to Molly, "And you spend a lot of time, here, Sam. Without Shawn around, this is a take-out delivery home only." She handed her grandson back to her daughter. "Now, please get the food out of the bags while I dispose of this delicious, albeit health hazardous, food you've prepared, and let's have Christmas breakfast."


	2. Fathers and Daughters

**Many thanks for all of your reviews. I hope you had a fabulous New Year celebration. I wish you all countless blessings and joy in this new year!**

**This was supposed to be a TWO-SHOT, however given that I have just moved and am in the midst of unpacking and getting my place together before my first day at my new job tomorrow, I will instead make this a THREE-SHOT so you're not waiting forever. You're welcome.**

**This is short and unedited.**

**2**

**Fathers and Daughters**

"Mom," Sam knocked on her mother's bedroom door before letting herself inside. "Hey, can you get Danny dressed while I jump in the shower, please? He keeps asking for 'Gaga.' and pointing to your door."

Buttoning her blouse before tucking it into her skirt, Alexis nodded. "What kind of question is that, honey? Of course I'll help my little man to look even more handsome than he already is!" She looked around for the little boy. "Um... where is he?"

Sam held her hand up. "One moment, please," she smiled as she opened the door to reveal the little boy seated on the floor playing with the car his grandfather had given him. "We have to take precautions with the only boy in our family of women. I didn't know what I'd be walking in on!"

Alexis chuckled. "You know, the way to rectify that problem?" She asked rhetorically. "Knocking and waiting for a response, sweetheart. That usually resolves the 'I don't know what I'm walking in on,' issue." She tapped her daughter's nose before taking her grandson into her arms. "Just a thought."

"Why in the world would I do that?" Sam laughed as she gave her mother's arm a squeeze. "Then we might actually seem like a normal group of people with prudish Cassadine blood running through our veins. Davis girls don't knock and wait for a response - I do believe that is something that you've told us on countless occasions."

"Actually, what I think I've said is, 'As the head of the Davis family, I don't have to knock on the doors in my house and wait for a response.' You girls have taken my words and twisted them to your own liking." Alexis rebutted. "However, yes, I do agree now that we have a boy in the family, I suppose Nikolas and Spencer will need to show him how to be a man amongst women."

"I suppose!" Sam replied in a sing-song fashion as she ran out of the room to get ready.

"So, it's just you and me, kid," Alexis commented to her grandson.

She could not help but to smile whenever she looked at him for so many times, the child seemed to have beat the odds that had been stacked against him. It never ceased to amaze her the profound love she, who had given her three girls her heart, was still able to give to this little boy. In spite of the amount of people in her life, her love never diminished for each member of her family. It actually seemed to grow. She would have given her life to protect these loves of her life.

"Have I ever told you how much I loved you, Dan?" She cooed into his ear before placing a kiss onto his cheek. "You are everything I would have loved to give to your mommy when she was a baby. And it's not to say that you are a replacement for her, but you're such a wonderful addition to this family that I am grateful that I have the ability to watch you grow up unlike the way I was unable to watch her grow up." She smiled when he reached to squeeze her nose. "And even though we're not to fond of your grandfather at the moment, I can't say that I'm not grateful for him because without him, my love, you..." she felt herself becoming emotional, "you wouldn't be here with us. And aside from the fact that that would've undoubtedly broken my heart, I know for a fact, that your Mommy... she would have likely not been to far behind... and I... I don't know what I would've done without her... without any of my girls... or you, for that matter."

Alexis brushed her eyelash to stop the tears from streaming down her freshly made-up cheek. "So, because your grandfather saved your life, I cannot completely shut the door on him... and I'm not saying that because we don't know what the future holds for you. But, I'm saying that I hope that at some point he realizes what he's missing in your life by continuing to do the things he's doing in his life," she sighed. "And what he's missing in your Mommy's life because I want so badly for her to have a relationship with him. I think she needs to have a relationship with her father because God knows I didn't have one with mine and look how well I turned out," she rolled her eyes. "That's something that's been lacking in her life - and I hope will not be lacking in yours-" She lied him down on her bed so that she could change him. "So, let's hope that she and Silas - or whoever else might make her as happy as your daddy made her - will create a new family that'll last forever and ever, hmm?"

"Hey Mom?" Kristina popped her head into the room. "Um, someone is at the door to see you."

Lifting her grandson to a standing position, Alexis slipped on his tiny suit pants. "Who is it, honey?" She absent-mindedly asked for she was not expecting any visitors.

"It's... well... it's Julian Jerome," the young woman smirked knowing from her conversations with her sisters that much to their (mostly Sam's) chagrin, their mother had a very much requited crush on the man with whom she had had her first child. Having met him for the very first time just minutes prior, Kristina could not say she did not blame the woman. "He stopped by with gifts... apparently for the whole family."

Alexis groaned in annoyance. "I told him I didn't want anything to do with him!" Now having a full picture of Sam's DNA, she now understood her daughter's relentless attitude. She got it from her father. "I don't know what more I have to say or do to help him get this through his thick head. This is ridiculous!"

Handing her nearly dressed grandson to his aunt, Alexis threw on her heels and stormed from the room. "Why couldn't I have had a child with a normal person for once," she grumbled to herself. "Why do I always end up with some relentless man? Is that too much to ask for?"

Her heels clicked loudly enough on the hardwood floor that the man she attempted to keep at arm's length quickly moved from the fireplace mantle that displayed several pictures of her beautiful family. He could not help but be enamored with the woman who had managed to build herself a stable life in spite of all that he had heard about her and her past. "Merry Christmas, Alexis!" He charmingly smiled at her.

"What do you want, Julian?" She asked him. She was not in the mood for small talk. "Call me crazy-"

"Merry Christmas, Crazy," he joked much to her evident dismay displayed by a prominent eye roll. "I aim to please, Alexis."

"Yeah, I'm sure you are," she replied. "Again, I'm asking you - begging you, really - what do you want? I'm certain I told you I didn't want you to come back here again."

He held up his hand to reveal the bag her held. "I come bearing gifts for not only the mother of my child-" He chuckled as she rolled her eyes yet again. "But for said child, her child, and the two lovely daughters you had with men I hear are quite undeserving of you."

She scoffed at his comment. "You hear are undeserving of me? Seriously Julian? Have you been drinking?"

"I'd like to have a drink with you... again."

Throwing her hands in the air, she moved to the door. "Do you ever turn off this thing that you like to refer to as charm?" She asked him. "I mean, it's one comment after the next with you."

He raised his free hand in surrender as he placed the bag he held onto the floor. Taking off his jacket, he took a step toward her. "It's the only way I seem to be able to get you to talk to me," he shrugged. "Listen, I know that you're angry with me for all the lies that I told, but I really don't know what more I can possibly do to prove to you that I really am sorry. I wanted to tell you the truth, but-"

"Your vendetta against Sonny got in the way?" Alexis sarcastically asked.

He sighed deeply. Apart from his actual hatred of Corinthos and everything he claimed to be as a mob boss, Julian's biggest regret in deciding to take back his territory was the rift his actions had caused in what could have been his family. Had he known that both Alexis and Sam existed, he would have thought twice about his decisions.

"Would any of this have made a difference if I had been honest from the beginning?" He countered. "Would you have shut me out for the likes of Sonny if I had told you who I was the second I realized who you were?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but quickly shut it once she realized that she did not have an answer for him. She did not know. No, it was not about his vendetta against Sonny that bothered her. Yes, she was his attorney and his reactions to Julian's actions would have a direct effect on her work, but more so, it was the fact that yet again, she had fallen for someone on the wrong side of the law, and that his life was detrimental to those she loved around her. If Sonny attacked and killed Julian in retaliation, it was Kristina's father who ended up in prison, Sam's father in the grave, and Danny's donor (should, God forbid, he relapsed) our of the picture. If Julian murdered Sonny, it was Sam's father in prison, and Kristina's father in the grave. She was in a horrible position between these two men who fathered two of her three children. Unfortunately, she happened to be enamored with the one standing before her.

"That is a moot point seeing as that is not the way things played out," she finally responded. "How I would've felt at any point if you had not turned out to be a liar who is using my grandson as a hostage and a shield from any flying bullets Sonny might even contemplate shooting in your direction doesn't matter since you are actually using my grandson as a hostage and shield, Julian!"

"I think you and Sam should open your gifts," he quietly replied.

"We don't want your gifts, Julian!" Alexis screamed at him. "We only want one thing from you, and sadly, you've proven yourself too much of a coward to actually give it to us." Clearing her throat, she took the final steps toward the front door. "Now, I think you should leave," she said calmly. "It's bad enough I have to see you and your insufferable sister during dinner tonight-"

He smiled widely at her comment. Although he had not expected any such thing, he thought it best than to question her how or why it was to be. "Is Sam going to be with you?" He subtly crossed his arms hoping that her response would be yes.

"She, like the rest of us, are unwilling participants to Carly's bribe," she began. "However, if you come within a single inch of Danny, I will stab you with the nearest dinner knife." When he made to respond, she held her hand up. "And if you don't believe me, ask Lorenzo Alcazar. If you ask the right people they'll tell you I killed him."

And opening the door, she stood with a sly smile on her face. "Goodbye, Julian."


End file.
